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4 Steps to Guarantee Business Survival

Written by: Peter Lawless

Article Overview: Could a proven Success Framework be all that's needed for your survival in today's economic conditions?

4 Steps to Guarantee Business Survival

Unfortunately no tools are enough – you have to learn how to use them and then have a willingness to diligently put them to work, learning through your mistakes. However continuing to follow practices that may have stunted your potential, knowing there are tools that could help you, could be termed madness.

Read the rest of this article to see if these tools could be what you need today.

With the current credit crunch, falling sales and generally difficult trading conditions, I am sure you would agree that businesses that want to survive need to take stock of where they are right now.

But what's the best way to do that, especially as it is difficult to and create a plan today!

Can you afford the risk of not fully taking stock of your current position, looking at your sales, marketing and purchasing positions, creating a strategic plan followed by an action plan for survival?

Part of the planning process is to set some measurable indicators (KPIs) that will be monitored on a regular basis. This means that like a ship, using the instruments of navigation you can steer your business to safer seas, where you will be in the perfect position to take advantage, when the current crisis calms.

So what are the 4 steps to success?
In summary, you must know where you are and where you want to go, before setting out on your journey. Thus the 4 steps can be described as follows:

1. The first is to assess where you are and how you got there.
2. Next you must decide where you want to go and create a strategy and plan.
3. Next you must execute and put into action your plan.
4. As part of the planning stage you will have created some key performance indicators (KPIs) which you must monitor and adjust your plan accordingly.

Assess the current situation.
One of the first questions most people ask is: where do I start? Given that each business is unique, it is important to conduct a detailed of survey of everything that the business does. The different areas we need to look at, in addition to standard financial information, are as follows: sales, marketing and purchasing.

Underpinning these is of course people, processes and the technology to automate the appropriate processes.

It is important to do an assessment of all products and services to clearly understand which offerings are used by which customers in which target markets and also the profitability of each of these offering segments and customer segments.

When looking at the marketing we need to understand what you have already done what has been effective and what has worked well and not worked and what has been your return on investment. It is important to examine the marketing collateral you have already used because even if you have been marketing to the right people, it is important to see if the message you have been sending out has being consistent with the value that your prospects and customers will put on your offerings.

In respect of sales, during the good times it was relatively easy for all sales people to perform well. Now it is a different matter and recently I have had a number of phone calls from companies who have expressed dismay at the fact that they don't know which of their salespeople are good and which of them salespeople are not.

When questioned further we often discover that there is not a consistent sales process in place. The sales assessment will look at: your salespeople, your processes, your sales channels and most importantly the metrics with which you measure the success and progress of the entire sales function.

Create a strategy and plan.
Many people start looking at company reorganisation by deciding where they want to be within a set frame of time. This is a good goal, however without having undergone the previous exercise to clearly identify where you are today sometimes where people are looking to get to is impractical.

Once you have determined your reality, now you can plan your future: in six months, one year and three years from now. Once that is agreed, now it is time to put in place the strategy of how the company will operate in order to get to that new desired state of affairs.

Once the strategies are in place, you must simply break it down into manageable steps, which then becomes your action plan. The action plan will include sales targets, quotas and territories. It will include marketing plans such as how much to spend, where to spend, it in what segments to spend it and what the expected return shall be. In relation to purchasing obviously we want to have the best products at the best prices, we also need to ensure that the cost of storing inventory not prohibitive.

Execute your action plan for survival and eventual growth.
It was once said that a vision without corresponding action is a mirage. The exact same is true with any plan; so now is the time for action. Take each of the elements of your action plan and execute them to the very best of your ability. At first it may not seem that there are huge returns, however as long as you diligently monitor everything you are doing, to notice what is happening and continue executing on your plan you will be assured of success.

This is also the time when you should look to ensuring the skills of your people are up to date and that your systems are fit for purpose and ensuring maximum productivity for your company.

Monitor and review your KPIs and adjust as necessary to maintain progress.
When you created your plans for survival and growth you will put in place a set of measurement criteria or KPIs. Now as you execute your plan it is essential you monitor these KPIs at regular time intervals; some will be daily and weekly, some monthly and some biannually. You could think of these KPI is as like fuel gauges in your car. If your sales pipeline gauge is showing near empty, it might be time to stop and review the marketing process and ensure your pipeline is filled. Without a full pipeline, sales will falter, revenue will crash, profit will crash and your cash flow will dry up and you would be right back where you started.

If you have external investors or debtors such as the banks, they will probably want to see not only an excellent plan, they will also want to see your ongoing financial statements such as cash flow. A good commercial lending will want to see that you're monitoring the vital statistics or health of your company through regular attention to the KPIs.

Conclusion
This way you can ensure your company's survival and indeed eventual growth once we all get out at this current economic slump.

It is often difficult to see yourself or your own company clearly, which is why many companies are seeking external expertise to assist them create a framework such as this. By doing this you can ensure you adopt best practices and fulfil the company's potential. Companies are after all set up to make profits for their stakeholders.

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Article Tags: 4 steps, credit crunch, current position, current situation, journey, key performance indicators, kpis, madness, measurable indicators, planning stage, risk, strategic plan, survival, taking stock, willingness



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